The veteran Eagles captain put the finishing touch on his club's resurgence late in the second period with a shorthanded, breakaway goal to tie Ontario at 3, lifting the spirits of teammates and fans alike.

Colorado may have been easily out-played in the first period, but Nelson's goal gave the Eagles a chance at redemption in the final frame.

However, it was once again Ontario that reigned supreme to pick up the game-winner, while Colorado came out reactive, not active. Passive instead of aggressive. The result being a 4-3 loss Wednesday night.

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"We were able to tie it up and come out in the third period and we were flat," Nelson said. "We just kind of just played the game and not forcing any issues and then they score one halfway through the period and then we're trying to chase them. That's unacceptable at this time of the season."

It wasn't the only unacceptable part of the night for the Eagles.

The first period was a forgettable one for Colorado (27-17-6-4, 64 points), which surrendered three goals in less than 9 minutes and was generally sloppy from start to finish.

Ontario's opening goal of the night was one Eagles' starting goaltender Marc Cheverie would like to have back. A shot from the point found its way on net, and even struck Cheverie's left leg pad, before slipping down and sneaking across the goal line 4:10 into the game.

Giving up the first goal of the game was a bad omen for Colorado as the Reign boasted a robust 20-4-1-1 record when scoring first and 17-1-1-1 leading after one frame.

The Reign (35-16-2-3, 75 points) tacked on another goal from the blue line past a heavily screened Cheverie 2 minutes later, then netted a power-play opportunity to push their advantage to 3-1.

"We can't give up the goals we gave up tonight and expect to be successful. There's no way," Colorado coach Chris Stewart said. "There were far too many goals that were of the average nature. That's just not acceptable."

Defenseman Mark Nemec managed Colorado's only goal of the first at 6:37.

Frustration was mounting early in the second frame for the Eagles, but instead of letting their anger create more negativity, they converted it to offense.

Former Reign forward Kyle Kraemer knocked in a puck out of mid air off a rebound to draw within a goal 2 minutes before Nelson's game-tying breakaway.

With momentum favoring Colorado entering the third, the team seemed poised to pounce on the opportunity to steal away the contest. The Eagles never got off their haunches.

"We can't be surprised, I mean, we're the ones that did it," Nelson said. "It's not like anyone forced it on us. We didn't press the issue like we wanted to and they're a good hockey team.

"You give them opportunities to skate and create offense with the puck, you're gonna be chasing a lot. Unfortunately, that's what happened."